WesternZagros Resources (CVE:WZR) Monday announced another increase in the resource estimates for its giant oil discovery on the Kurdamir Block in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
After further analysis of results from the Kurdamir-2 well, as per a report by Sproule International, the combined mean prospective resources of the Kurdamir structure in the Oligocene, Eocene, and Cretaceous reservoirs, and the Baram prospect in the Oligocene and Eocene reservoirs, is now 1.7 billion barrels of oil, or over 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent when gas and condensate are included.
That’s up from last month’s report of gross unrisked prospective resources of 1.2 billion barrels of oil on the Kurdamir Block, or 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
On the Baram prospect, the total mean estimate of gross unrisked prospective resources more than quadrupled to 423 million barrels of oil (MMbbl). When gas and condensate are included, the mean prospective resources nearly doubled to 496 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).
WesternZagros said today that the revised estimate at the Baram prospect is thought to show that the prospect has the potential to contain the extension of the Kurdamir oil leg in the Garmian Block.
"As we understand the giant Kurdamir Discovery better, we are intrigued by the potential that the Baram prospect is an extension of Kurdamir,” said CEO Simon Hatfield.
“As such, we expect Baram-1 to be a high impact well and one of the most attractive opportunities on the Garmian Block.”
Hatfield noted that one of the rigs the company has secured is currently being prepared in North America for deployment to its Baram-1 exploration well, with the company anticipating spudding the well in the third quarter of this year.
Late last month, WesternZagros reported a fourfold increase in the contingent resource estimates at Kurdamir, after several successful well tests last year.
The company said at the time that the Kurdamir structure has the potential to be the largest light oil field discovered in Kurdistan, with the possibility that it extends on to the neighbouring Garmian Block.
WesternZagros has seen five upward revisions of contingent resources by an independent audit since the Kurdamir discovery was announced in November 2009.
Test results from the Kurdamir-2 well at the Oligocene reservoir were released in December this past year. The second cased-hole test, which was conducted over a 24-metre thick interval between depths of 2,528 and 2,552 metres, achieved a stabilized flow rate of 2,184 barrels per day of light, 42 degree API oil and 10.4 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.
The initial open-hole test conducted last March resulted in a major oil discovery in the Oligocene interval, and in late November, the company said the first cased hole test in the Oligocene formation of the Kurdamir-2 well far exceeded expectations.
WesternZagros has a 40 per cent working interest in the Kurdamir block, while Talisman Energy (TSE:TLM), the operator of the well, also holds a 40 per cent working interest, with the Kurdistan regional government holding the remainder.
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